reusing yeast saga

Theoretically, if I racked to a secondary from a finished primary, and had a pot of wort ready to go, could I put the new wort onto the trub of the first primary? If so I wouldn't need a starter for harvested yeast.

Correct.

It works best if you're going from a lower SG beer to a higher SG beer, and from a lighter beer to darker (or less hoppy to hoppier). I know that many of us do this.

McCuckerson said:

Theoretically, if I racked to a secondary from a finished primary, and had a pot of wort ready to go, could I put the new wort onto the trub of the first primary? If so I wouldn't need a starter for harvested yeast.

Click to expand...

That is just fine. I am sure there are a ton of threads around here about pitching onto a yeast cake.

carnevoodoo said:

That is just fine. I am sure there are a ton of threads around here about pitching onto a yeast cake.

Click to expand...

What is a yeast cake?

The trub on the bottom of the primary fermenter is mostly yeast, hence it's called the yeast cake.

ifishsum said:

The trub on the bottom of the primary fermenter is mostly yeast, hence it's called the yeast cake.

Click to expand...

Brilliant! How many times can you pitch onto a yeast cake?

Read the sticky on yeast washing. It is a better way to go because it cleans out a lot of the garbage from your prior fermentation. Also overpitching yeast is not the best way to go if you can avoid it. This means that you don't need the entire yeast cake to ferment your next batch.

Yeah, if you wash it you can split it into 3 or four starters, each healthy enough to make their own batch. I haven't tried real washing yet but I have split the cake to start 2 batches and it's still more than enough.

As for pitching on the same cake, most everything I've read is that 3 or 4 times is the max. It will still work beyond that, but the yeast can mutate and cause unpredictable flavor results.